This dissertation explores the newly theorized concept of "sexualized aggression" in U.S. college women's social drinking spaces (e.g., parties, bars, clubs). I developed the concept of sexualized aggression to refer to understudied and overlooked forms of sexual assault and aggression--more specifically, sexual assault that happens in…

Acceptability of a sexual violence (SV) risk reduction program called "RealConsent" designed for first-year female college students was conducted as part of a larger, randomized controlled trial. "RealConsent" uses web-based and mobile technology to deliver four 45-minute theoretically and empirically derived modules designed…

Objective: Male allies play an important role in sexual assault prevention, yet many college sexual assault prevention programs struggle to recruit and retain men. This study aims to identify barriers to recruitment and retention of male sexual assault prevention peer educators. Participants: Seventeen undergraduate male student leaders…

Bystander-based initiatives to reduce the incidence of, and harm associated with, interpersonal violence have demonstrated promise (Jouriles et al., 2018). This prevention model is a salient approach for college students, who are in a developmental stage where peer influence is salient (Duval et al., 2020); thus, they have an important role to…

Sexual consent education is increasingly used as an educational tool for sexual violence prevention. Yet very little research exists on the effectiveness of consent education to reduce rates of sexual violence. Prior to understanding the effectiveness of any prevention programme, it is essential to understand the mechanisms through which the…

Evidence suggests that resources to address campus sexual violence (CSV) are inconsistently offered across institutions of higher education (IHE), and thus there is a need for campuses to continually assess their provision of resources and services to improve the climate and well-being of students. Conducting a periodical scan of resources…

Objective: This study examined three dimensions of parental engagement in Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) prevention education (knowledge, attitudes and practices) to determine whether increased knowledge and attitudes favouring CSA education led to increases in parental behaviours while controlling for multiple factors. Design: A random, digitally…

Research on sexual violence and sexual harassment (SVSH) in academia has grown since the 1980s; however, the needs of graduate student survivors have received comparably little attention, which contributes to forms of institutional betrayal that specifically impact graduate students. As part of a multi-campus study on experiences of SVSH and…

The Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) is a mandatory survey of all public schools and school districts in the 50 states, Washington, D.C., and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. This Data Snapshot provides the reports of school districts about sexual violence and harassment or bullying on the basis of sex or sexual orientation for the 2020-21…

Colleges across the country are striving to ensure student safety, promote cultures of consent, and maintain compliance with the Campus Sexual Violence Elimination Act (Campus SaVE Act) through sexual violence prevention programs and education (Cox, 2018). These concepts are already complicated, but colleges and universities often gear their…

Prevention of sexual violence is of vital importance, especially on university campuses where sexual violence occurs at particularly high rates. Universities are federally required to implement prevention programming, but little is known about retention over time. In addition, research has not analyzed the relationship between sexual violence…

Sexual assault on college campuses was the public health and safety problem addressed in this study which sought to determine if intervention and prevention program type affected rates of sexual assault on Tier I and Tier II universities in Texas. Female students, educated on the dangers of being victim to the criminality of sexual assault, were…

Background: Evidence-based child sexual and physical abuse prevention programs delivered in schools are needed and require rigorous evaluation of program effects prior to widespread dissemination. The Play it Safe! program is a one-time session delivered by trained facilitators to teach students about recognizing, resisting, and reporting abuse.…

The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to understand the perceived role of empathy and self-efficacy in college students that have completed a bystander intervention training program and intervened to prevent a potential sexual assault situation at two small private Christian colleges. The theories guiding this study are…

This study explored the experiences of peer advocates, college students who take on peer victim advocate roles to provide outreach and support services around campus sexual assault. the purpose of this study is to explore the meaning peer advocates make from their roles. Studies have documented the risks that victim advocates face, including…